Poetry Ireland is saddened that the Irish writer, poet, cultural activist and founder of arts organisation Aosdána, Anthony Cronin has died at the age of 88.

Born in Enniscorthy in 1928 and educated at Blackrock College, Dublin and UCD, Cronin was the author of 14 volumes of poetry and the picaresque novel, The Life of Riley. He also wrote Dead As Doornails, a celebrated memoir of mid-20th century literary Dublin life of which he had been part.

Cronin also wrote acclaimed biographies of Flann O’Brien and Samuel Beckett. He was editor of The Bell magazine and was once literary editor of the London journal, Time and Tide.

Anthony Cronin's Requiem Mass will take place at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook on Saturday 31 December 2016, 11am.